From the ‘spirit of capital’ to the “spirit” of capitalism: The transition in German economic thought between Lujo Brentano and Max Weber

I dedicate this essay to the memory of the late Wolfgang Mommsen—the subject would have been congenial to him. It is one of a series of offshoots from a central project: a scholarly edition of Max Weber's Protestant Ethic with commentary. When I first told Prof. Mommsen of my plan in 1994 he looked me full in the face and gave a characteristic growl: “All that work!” Here was a man who knew what he was about. My thanks to Ross McKibbin and Keith Tribe for reading this paper in draft.

The article begins by examining Max Weber's relations with Lujo Brentano, much the most important “precursor” to Weber in the field of economics. In particular, Brentano conducted a form of parallel inquiry into the rise of ‘the spirit of capital’ in England 35 years before Weber looked for the origins of “spirit” of capitalism there, and the contrast between these two ideas casts much light both on Brentano and on Weber's Protestant Ethic. This personal history leads into a broader history of the transition in German economic thought between the 1860s – the formative decade for Brentano but also the era of Marx's Capital – and that of Weber's generation coming to maturity c.1890. Marx and Weber remain the two great canonical thinkers and original minds; but any authentic historical comparison between Marx and Weber must take in Brentano. The essence of the contrast between the generations is that between Weber's novel conception of an ethical ‘capitalism’, and the materialism and naturalism underpinning Brentano's and Marx's ‘capital’, although Weber and Brentano are alike as liberals, democrats and bourgeois.     

法律家长主义及其法律适用

源自西方的法律家长主义理论主张政府在某些领域为了公民自身的利益可以不顾其意志而限制其自由或自治。该理论与中国当前注重以人为本的新民本理念相适应,且与中国法律文化传统、法律规范与社会现实微有契合之处,但却不能与其相提并论。本文通过对西方法律家长主义的论述,试图找到法律家长主义在中国的适用空间。     

“洛蜀会同”与南宋理学书论

南宋是理学的成熟时期,“内圣之学”发展到极致已暗含道学向心学的转型。“洛蜀会同”促进了理学的普及,对书论产生了很大的影响,奠定了书法批评中伦理批评模式,其影响波及元明清,意义尤为深远。     

马克斯·韦伯眼中的孔子:韦伯中国史观中的精神与自然力

[提要]作为德国社会学古典理论的奠基人之一,马克斯·韦伯以“新教伦理与资本主义精神之间具有历史亲和力”的观点在世界范围内享有盛誉。他终其一生都在以摒弃西方人传统偏见的态度去探究非西方的文化。韦伯在中国宗教(尤其是儒教和道教)研究领域取得了巨大成就。他以对孔子和儒者的仰止之心指出儒教是一种高度发达的、冷静的理性主义,深刻剖析了宗教是中国未能发展成为现代化工业社会的决定性因素。韦伯进一步揭示了自然环境及其变迁对于中国历史进程的影响,阐释了自然环境状况也是中国未能发展成为工业资本主义的另一症结所在。     

塔西佗的史料思想

塔西佗主张史学之最高功能在于“惩恶扬善”。基于强烈的道德目的,塔西佗对史料的选用精益求精:只有包涵道德训诫意蕴的历史人事才能成为历史研究唯一有价值的撰述对象和内容;从不轻易放过与种种“小恶”与“小善”当中任何相关的蛛丝马迹。塔西佗的史料方法旨在厘定历史人事的善恶之实。